SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—Maybe a little rest does do the body (and team) some good.

The UH Hilo men's basketball team won their third consecutive game on the road, using suffocating defense and six players in double figures on offense to smother Academy of Art, 83-72, on Friday night at Kezar Pavilion.

Since coming out of the break, the Vulcans have won three straight, all on the road in Pacific West Conference play. The third win in five days moves them to 4-3 in the PacWest and to 6-5 overall. The win also allowed them to break out of a tie with the Urban Knights for fifth place in the conference standings. AAU is now 3-4 in the PacWest and 3-9 overall.

Jordan Graves, from nearby Monterey, led the Vulcans with 18 points, six assists and four rebounds. The points and assist totals were UHH career highs for the Santa Rosa JC transfer.

Joining him in double figures were Kupaa Harrison with 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, Denhym Brooke with 13 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots, and three others with 12 points each—Jalen Thompson, James Griffin and Larry Bush.

"I am really happy again with our effort," head coach GE Coleman said after the game. "With the style we play, effort is going to win us ball games. We played very well on both ends of the floor, and to have one of our best halves at the tail end of three games in five nights tells you something about the character of this team."

UH Hilo survived 31 points from AAU's Andrija Blatancic, 18 of them in the second half.

The Vulcans also survived a quick start by the Urban Knights, who jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.

But Griffin then entered the contest and scored immediately, helping spark a 10-0 Vulcan run (12-8). The game would be tied twice in the next few moments at 14-14 and 16-16, but the Urban Knights would never lead again.

A three-pointer by Harrison helped give UH Hilo a 38-31 halftime lead. Brooke had ten points in the first half and the Vulcan defense had forced AAU into 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Bush and Thompson hit treys in the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 45-31. AAU would twice cut the margin to four points at the ten-minute mark, but UHH answered with a 12-2 run to create more space, and the Vulcans started eating as much clock as possible with each possession.

The hosts would make one final run to cut the deficit to six points (70-64) with 2:15 left, but a pair of steals by Harrison that turned into free throws converted by Thompson, sealed the game.

The Vulcans shot 55 percent from the floor, including a sizzling 68 percent in the second half. They forced 17 AAU turnovers and had ten steals.

The Vulcans haven't won three road games for an entire season since going 4-5 on the road during the 2008-09 year.

"Our next step is to correct our own turnovers," Coleman added, whose team had 16 tonight. "We will get home, recover, and get ready for HPU."

The Vulcans now return home to tip off a big three-game homestand, beginning with a Saturday (Jan. 12) contest versus Hawai`i Pacific. Start time will be 3 p.m. at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.